(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
Arizona State continued its downturn on Thursday night, suffering a fifth-straight loss, this time at the hands of the lowly Utah Utes. Most of the struggles for ASU have been centered around its offense, a group that has not produced outside of a few select players.
Having scored only 11 runs in their last five games, head coach Tracy Smith is searching for answers for how to get this Sun Devil team loaded with potential back on the right foot.
“Guys are pressing,” Smith said. “They are trying but they are pressing. It seems like guys are having their worst at-bats when all we really need is a ball in play.”
David Greer, who entered the game tied for third in the Pac-12 in hits (29) has been a steady force in the lineup, as has preseason All-American Colby Woodmansee. Many other Sun Devils have delivered key hits at one time or another, but have lacked the consistency that the former two have.
The perplexing struggles from the lineup once again forced ASU to require an outstanding outing from its starting pitcher, which is close to what it got. Seth Martinez, who has been a model of consistency all season long, went seven innings and gave up just one earned run. He also did not walk anyone, although he did have one hit by pitch.
“I don’t think his command was the best tonight,” Smith said. “But he went seven innings and gave us a chance to win, he just got no run support. He is a team guy, he’s not pointing fingers, and he did his job tonight, he just didn’t get picked up by the offense. I always appreciate what he does in terms of competing out there.”
Martinez’s performance was much needed since the Sun Devils are searching for answers within their rotation. Reagan Todd is ninth in the Pac-12 in ERA, but has struggled lately. It was announced that Ryan Hingst will make his first start of the season for ASU on Friday, but the Saturday starter is still undetermined.
ASU had their chances to give run support to Martinez, especially in the later innings, but only scratched one run across the plate in the form an RBI double by Andrew Shaps. The Sun Devils had just five hits total, and nobody on the team had multiple hits.
Smith switched things up on the diamond to try and spark the offense, inserting David Greer in left field for the first time this season. Jordan Aboites returned to third base while R.J. Ybarra got his second consecutive start at first base. The three combined to go 1-for-7 at the plate.
“We are trying to find something that will get us going offensively,” Smith said regarding the lineup changes. “The whole play there was to get another bat in the lineup, being R.J. (Ybarra), but he struggled tonight.”
“I thought (Greer) made a really nice catch in left so it didn’t hurt us too much defensively.”
With two more games remaining on their slate against the cellar-dwelling Utes, the Sun Devils will be forced to come up with the right lineup combination that will get them out of the Pac-12 funk.
“We are waiting for that big hit to happen,” Smith said. “Because I think when that happens it’s going to open the floodgates a little bit.”
